Criticality in Nonconformal Plasmas at Finite Temperature and Density

We study the thermodynamics of an asymptotically AdS black hole in a holographic Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton model describing a nonconformal plasma at finite temperature and chemical potential. Using a logarithmic warp factor and working in the grand canonical ensemble, we analyze the temperature-horizon relation, entropy density, grand potential, pressure, energy density, and trace anomaly, demonstrating the emergence of a first-order phase transition at low chemical potentials, a critical end point, and a smooth crossover at higher chemical potentials. Thermodynamic response functions, including the heat capacity and charge susceptibility, exhibit finite jumps at the first-order transition, divergence at the critical end point, and broad maxima in the crossover region. These results collectively establish a consistent and QCD-like phase structure in this holographic framework.